DOES CANADA NEED TO PAY BILLIONS FOR NEW FIGHTER JETS?

The Harper government has contracted to 65 F-35 military jets for nine billion dollars. But that ‘s not the whole story. Factor in maintenance costs over a 20 year period and that adds another 5.7 billion. According to the Auditor-General the Harper gvernment is budgeting $26 billion over a period of 33 years. And that figure could go as high as $40 billion.

Now in all the ink that has been spilled on this subject, I have seen very little on why we need these expensive jets in the first place. One writer says we need them to protect our sovereignty . This is rubbish. Our sovereignty is guaranteed by our membership in alliances such as NATO and NORAD. To think that these 65 new jets could repulse a serious military challenge is fantasy.

So why are we buying these jets at all?

Imagine if we invested these billions in education and health care. That would make a lot of sense.

Doesn’t NATO and NORAD membership imply that Canada would come to the aid to protect the sovereignty of other nations, too? With what? The Canadian submarine fleet? Snowmobiles? Yes, Canada has back-up, but first and foremost shouldn’t Canada have some means of protecting itself? That is quite a racket Canada has.

My husband is a military buff, and looked into this jet years ago, when the subject first came up. He said then, he thought something was wrong with the plan, because that jet was far from what was the best on the market & what we needed. He smelled politics in the fray back then and guess what? He’s right!…again!